His Father's Son
by Sapphire Ox
Summary: Ryoken has always trusted his father. No matter how bad things look, Father's always had the best intentions. However, when he comes across his new "experiment", Ryoken starts to question just how noble his intentions truly are...


**His Father's Son**

Ryoken loves where they live.

Their house is nice and big, away from the city and all its traffic and noises and weird smells, with tons of space for him to run around in and big wide windows that overlook the entire sea, bestowing them with an absolutely breathtaking view of sunrise and sunset every day that paints the living room and sparkling water below various shades of red and violet. It makes Ryoken feel like they're part of an oil painting.

But that's not even the best part. Ryoken grins and crawls up to the window on his hands and knees in his pajamas and presses his palms and face to the glass, powder blue eyes staring out upon the steady waves below. The sun is just barely visible on the horizon, its faint orange glow dimly reflecting off the water. Even with the remaining light, though, he can already see a hint of fluorescent blue lighting up underneath the waves. His excitement grows.

"Dad! Come watch, they're coming out!" he exclaims over his shoulders, his eyes not leaving the ocean.

"Just a second, son."

The excitement is dimmed for a moment as Ryoken turns his head to look over at his father. His cheeks puff out in a pout as he sees his father sitting with his back turned to him, his head bowed as he remains focused on the papers in front of him; he probably hasn't heard a word Ryoken has said.

" _Daaaad_ ," Ryoken repeats in slight exasperation.

Kiyoshi responds, "I will, Ryo, just give me a few minutes to finish this report up."

Ryoken frowns, but turns back to the window. His annoyance is quickly buried underneath a wave of elation as the sun finally disappears beneath the horizon and the sky completely darkens.

Instantly, the ocean lights up with the glow of the plankton living underneath the surface, hundreds of thousands of tiny bright blue lights accumulating to color the water to an unearthly electric blue color that glimmers as almost as bright as the stars that dot the nighttime sky above. Ryoken smiles in amazement as he watches the phenomenon, and the namesake of Stardust Road makes him feel almost like he's part of the universe, like he's watching the formation of a star.

He's so engrossed in watching how the light shifts with the waves that he doesn't notice the presence behind him until he almost jumps at the feel of a hand on his shoulder.

Ryoken looks up. His father stands behind him, a rare soft look in his dark yellow eyes and an even rare smile on his face as he looks out at the ocean.

"It's quite a beauty, isn't it?" Kiyoshi asks, and looks down at Ryoken.

Ryoken lights up, and he nods enthusiastically. "It really is!"

He turns back, and for the rest of the night, up until Ryoken has to go to bed, they gaze upon the plankton's light in the water as Kiyoshi explains to him what causes the plankton's bioluminescence and how it may be effected by stuff like temperature and how it can be used to both ward off predators and to also draw in possible prey.

Yeah, Ryoken loves where they live.

* * *

"Now, Ryoken-kun, you knew this was going to happen."

"That doesn't mean I have to be happy about it," he insists.

"It's only going to be a couple of weeks," Aso points out.

"But it's going to feel like _forever,_ " Ryoken whines, crossing her arms grumpily, "Why can't they get someone else to do it? They have other scientists who can do the same thing, don't they?"

Aso gives him a sympathetic smile as he stands at the counter, where he prepares onigiri for Ryoken's lunch while Kyoko-san does a crossword with him. They have plans for going on a picnic today while Ryoken's father finishes up at the office, and Aso says if it's not too late, they may even go to the park.

It's nice, being able to hang out with them. They babysit him sometimes when his father has to work late and they're off, and they make him food and help him with his homework and play Duel Monsters with him.

"How does he expect an eight year old to manage on their own?" Kyoko asked him one day as they folded laundry together, "At the very least, he could look into one of those after school clubs so you're not always alone."

"I like being alone," Ryoken had explained, "And none of the clubs really interest me."

That, and up until the last two years, there was someone watching him. His mother used to be the one to play with him, until…

" _I don't even know you anymore! Are you even listening to yourself, Kiyoshi? For god's sake, you're playing with fire here!"_

" _I'm doing what's best for mankind here_ _! And you want to stand in my way, after everything I've worked for?!"_

" _And 'everything you've worked for' is more important than me, your wife?! Or our son? Then forget it, I'm leaving. I won't be a part of this, Kiyoshi, not this time."_

Ryoken winces whenever he thinks back to that conversation.

Father didn't like talking about Mother after that night. Not after she left.

Anyways.

He likes Kyoko and Aso. They're his friends, even if they are way older than him. But it's better than him by himself all the time, since he doesn't really have any friends from school. Plus, it makes him feel really mature and grown up, getting to hang out with the adults.

Aso finishes putting together his bento box, and pats his head, ruffling his hair.

"Your father is one of SOL Technologies' best researchers around," he explained, "By selecting him to be the head of this work conference, they're acknowledging all his great accomplishments and letting him know that they think he's the best choice out of all the candidates. You want your father's hard work to be noticed, don't you?"

Ryoken nods, albeit with a bit hesitance. He gets that, and he knows that it's because of his dad's job that they get to afford all these nice things, but that doesn't mean that he wants him gone all the time. Some days Kiyoshi works for so many hours that Ryoken won't even see him for a whole day or so, already being gone by the time he wakes up and not getting home until long after the nanny drone makes him go to bed.

Sometimes Ryoken can't help but think his dad likes his work more than he likes him. He works so many hours with seemingly no problem of never seeing his only son, and even when he is home he's still focused on work with his head buried in textbooks and his pen endlessly writing stuff down. Ryoken sometimes considers running away, just to see if his father would even notice if he were gone.

Aso and Kyoko seem to notice his despondency, because Kyoko puts a hand on his back.

"Tell you what," she says cheerfully, "At least one of us, if not the both of us, will come by every day until he gets back! We could all hang out together!"

Ryoken looked up at her with renewed interest. "Really?"

"Really," Aso assured with a smile, "And if ever there's something you specifically have in mind that you want to do, we'll do it. Go to the movies, ride bikes, whatever you get to thinking of."

Ryoken's eyes widen in excitement, and his pout dissipates into a wide, open-mouthed smile.

"Could we go to the arcade and get to play Duel Monsters on those new VR sets?" he asks hopefully.

They both laugh and nod. Aso says, "Possibly."

He packs up the bento and some drinks into the picnic basket sitting on the other side of the counter and picks it up to show it to him and Kyoko.

"Now, how about we take a little trip down to the water so we can eat and get some sun on the way?" he suggests.

"Yeah!" Ryoken exclaims, "Let's go!"

He spins in his chair and hops off, his socked feet making dull pounds on the carpet as he runs towards the door. Kyoko and Aso chuckle at his energy, and they gather up their things to meet him at the entrance as they all put their shoes on.

Later on, as they head down to the little pathway that gives Ryoken and his father their own little place of shoreline to sit near the beach- one that's free of jagged rocks or stray seaweed that makes the whole area stink- while they eat lunch and joke around. At one point, they even spot a pod of orcas traveling a few miles off. The sun is high in the sky and makes the sand bright white and ends up giving Ryoken a bit of sunburn, but he doesn't mind it as he sits between Kyoko and Aso, eating from his bento and drinking peach lemonade.

That morning's feelings of frustration at his father's latest work-related trip have all but dissolved, and Ryoken forgets about them for the rest of the day.

* * *

" _Absolutely not."_

" _If you would just allow me to further explain-"_

" _-The answer is no."_

Ryoken stops just outside his father's office, listening in on the conversation. The little poster board he made for his creativity project is clasped tightly between his hands, a score of 100% marked on its rubric in red ink. He's been itching to show his father as soon as he got it handed it back to him, hopeful that possibly this display of effort he's put into his school work may actually get his dad to focus on something besides his computer for more than five seconds for once.

But when he gets to the door, he hesitates at the edge in his father's voice. He doesn't sound happy.

" _We're talking about the future of the human race here!"_ Kiyoshi argues within, " _Advancements that go far beyond what was ever thought imaginable!"_

" _This is not up for debate. Our answer is final,"_ a second voice sternly says, " _You do well to remember your place within this company, Kogami-san. You may be our leading researcher, but you are NOT the definite authority here."_

There's a few seconds of tense silence, like his father is considering arguing back, before Ryoken hears him finally say bitterly, "Understood."

" _Good. Now, if there are no more concerns, we bid you a good night."_

There is a computer sound that indicates the end of what seems to be a video chat, and Ryoken jumps at the sudden pounding sound that follows; seemingly his dad slamming his fist on his desk.

" _Dammit,"_ Kiyoshi hisses to himself, _"I'm so close. I just need the final step to test it out, and now they're suddenly deciding to hold me back?! No, I won't let all my hard work go to waste. I must see this go through, I must!"_

Ryoken slowly raises his tiny fist to the door and lightly knocks.

"Father?" he calls, "I-I have something I want to show you."

" _Not now, Ryoken,"_ his father answers dismissively, " _I'm busy."_

Ryoken feels his heart sink. "But…"

He slowly pushes the door open a crack to peak in. His father's back is to him, and he's already grabbing his phone and making calls as he rapidly gathers his notes and writes things down in the margins.

"Dad…" Ryoken tries again. Kiyoshi doesn't even flinch.

Dispirited, he shuts the door and starts to head back down the hall to the stairs to get a snack. As he gets a couple of feet, though, Ryoken can still hear his father on the other side.

" _If that old community center is still available…yes, and those old computer monitors should still be there,"_ Kiyoshi mutters, an undertone of excitement growing as he talks to himself, " _Nothing can stand in the way of this,_ _ **nothing**_ _. They'll see, it will be all worth it. No matter what I have to do, I will see this through to the end."_

Maybe it's his disappointment talking, but Ryoken feels unnerved at those words. He doesn't know why, but something about them makes him worried about what his father is planning.

* * *

Over the next few weeks, Ryoken sees his father only a handful of times, and Kiyoshi's presence becomes almost nonexistent in their house. Even when he's home, he spends all his time cooped up in his office, not even coming out to use the bathroom or for food. Ryoken's starting to think he's even starting to sleep in there, if he's even getting any sleep. It seems he spends all night in there, working. Just work, all the time.

He's also more tense than usual, Ryoken notices. Whenever he gets home, he rushes right into his office like he's in a hurry to see something, and he talks on the phone in whispered, hushed tones like it's something he doesn't want anybody else to hear.

Ryoken tries asking him himself, only to get his questions brushed aside.

"What I do in my spare time is my business," his father says sternly.

It only makes Ryoken annoyed. _Like you ever use your spare time for anything other than work,_ he thinks sarcastically.

One night, when he's supposed to already be asleep in bed, he hears the front door open, his father inviting in what sounds like a group of people. Curiosity gets the best of him as he hears their muffled voices through the floor, and slowly, he creeps down the stairs.

"-risking a lot here," he hears a familiar voice say- is that Dr. G? What's he doing here? "If we get caught, we're going to face the mother of all lawsuits, not to mention the courts will throw the book at us."

"Are you backing out?" Ryoken's father questions.

"Not at all. In fact, I'm actually quite intrigued myself to see how this idea of yours turns out."

"I'm not sure about this," Kyoko speaks up, "I mean, what exactly you're asking of us to take part in…"

Ryoken hears a voice he recognizes as Aso follow along, "I admit I have some…reservations about this whole thing myself. Are you sure about this, Kiyoshi? If things go wrong…"

His father speaks up, his voice solid and confident, like it is whenever he's giving a speech at a conference or convention.

"I understand that my proposal is a lot to take on," he says, "And if you cannot find it within yourselves to accept my offer, I completely understand and will not pressure you further. However, I wouldn't come to you with this if I did not believe you three to be the best options to help aid me with this."

"But the test subjects you have in mind-" Kyoko starts to object.

"They're the best option if we're ever to establish this connection with free thought and artificial lifeforms," Kiyoshi interrupts, "Adults are too constructed by their life experiences, too biased and cynical of the world. Children are the foundation for the next generation, they are the catalysts for whether the future will progress or fall back on its old ways.

"And AIs are like children; they learn from watching the world around them, but are otherwise ignorant to what may actually be going on. If we can experiment using mindsets similar to their own, we'll be able to truly create a species that will help us evolve and continue on after humanity has finally reached its end."

Aso asks, "And the dueling part?"

"I believe it's the best way that the AIs can understand us as humans, what with the problem solving and strategies that go into it," his father responds, "This way, they can learn to better connect with humans like other duelists use it to connect with each other."

"Interesting," Dr. G says.

Ryoken hears Kyoko sigh wearily.

"I just hope you know what you're doing, Kiyoshi," she says.

"I know you have all have doubts, but it _will_ pay off," Kiyoshi reassures, "It _must_ if human life is to continue beyond the limits of mortal flesh and the restraint of our geographical occupation."

Ryoken furrows his brows, confused at what it is they're all talking about. He hears them start to make their way out of the kitchen and swiftly crawls back up to his room before they can catch him. As he gets back under the covers into bed, their words swirl around in his head.

What was all this talk about AIs and adults versus kids? And what on earth did it have to do with the future of humans or dueling?

His dad's always been kind of a worry wort, always obsessing over illnesses and changes in the environment and all other kinds of things that make people die. Part of it is because of his job which, as far as Ryoken can understand (the language involved in it all is makes it really hard for him to follow) revolves around discovering and finding things that can help to prevent all that. Like finding cures to diseases and trying to develop technology that can help people better prepare for natural disasters. His last major project with SOL, one that he won an award for, involved finally discovering the cause for some major autoimmune disorder or something. His dad seems to like looking at things that can prevent death.

This time, his dad said something about 'evolving' the species. Somehow using artificial intelligence to find a way to let it continue after humanity finally "ends" whatever that means.

He doesn't really get any of it, but if his father's doing it for the better of humanity, then it must be good and important. Maybe that's why he's been so stressed- it's such a big thing to talk about, and he doesn't want anything going wrong.

But if it was for the good of humanity, why keep it a secret?

Ryoken falls asleep without being able to come up with a good answer.

* * *

One night, as he lays by the window, watching the plankton glow in the water as he does his homework, his father suddenly calls to him.

"Ryo, come here," Kiyoshi's voice echoes throughout the vast expanse of the house.

Ryoken looks up. He gets to his feet and walks into the living room. His father looks foreign from where he sits on the couch; he can't remember the last time he's seen him anywhere else in the house that isn't his office. Kiyoshi sits, typing at the tablet in his lap. When he looks up and sees his son looking at him, he waves him over, putting the tablet aside on the coffee table. Ryoken approaches him slowly.

His father doesn't say anything, just stares at him for a few seconds. It makes him feel uncomfortable, and he shifts on his feet under his gaze.

"Did…did I do something wrong?" he finally asks.

Father shakes his head and places a hand on his shoulder. He looks Ryoken right in the eye, stern dark yellow meeting curious pastel blue.

"I need you to do something for me," he says.

That perks Ryoken's interest. "What?"

"Tomorrow," Kiyoshi explains, "I need you to find someone for me, someone around your age."

Ryoken blinks, surprised. That certainly wasn't what he was expecting. He asks, "Who?"

"Anyone will do, though it will probably be better if it was someone not…closely affiliated with us," Kiyoshi says, "I just need some of their time for…some research I'm doing."

"Is it because you need a randomized sample?" Ryoken asks, remembering one of the fancy words he's heard them use before when it comes to creating science experiments.

Father smiles, "Yes. Precisely that. We can't have obvious biases skewing our results now, do we? Anyways, if someone catches your eye, I ask that you bring them to my office. I just need to talk to them for a couple of minutes, but it's imperative I get their information right away."

He stares right into Ryoken's gaze. "Think you can do that?"

Ryoken nods slowly, still processing what exactly is being asked of him. "O…kay."

It's a bit of a weird request. If his dad needed volunteers for whatever he was working on, couldn't he just ask around the parents of the kids that went to his school? It seemed much easier to do than having Ryoken look around. Plus, Ryoken and his classmates have always been told by the teacher to never go anywhere with strangers. It seemed weird inviting people over to the house when they didn't even know him. He guessed it was different when it was kids inviting other kids over, but would his dad even be home by then? Why couldn't he just come with Ryoken so he could get his answers right away? It confuses him a bit.

But his dad is a smart man. He knows what he's doing. If this is the way he has to go about it, then surely it's for good reason, isn't it?

Besides, the thought that he's actually getting to somewhat help his father on one of his projects, even if it's just a small part- the fact that his dad's actually talking to him for the first time in months that isn't just a passing remark, alone- makes him feel all giddy and excited, and he lavishes in the attention.

"Okay!" he says with a bit more confidence.

Kiyoshi gives a half-smile. "Good."

The next day, though, as he goes walking through the city to find a specific kid, Ryoken feels less than confident. He tries to approach kids in the park and tries to start off friendly conversation with the suggestion of a duel, but they all are either with their parents, ignore him, or just tell him to leave them alone. He's too young to take the subway by himself and the adults in the stores all give him a suspicious look like they're onto him, so he avoids those places. By the time it's early evening and the sky turns bright orange as the sun starts to lower, he still hasn't had any luck.

Ryoken feels his heart starts to sink as he runs through a neighborhood, trying to find someone to talk to. The streets are quiet at this time, and there's not another child in sight, nor any type of person, for that matter. His deck bounces around in his jacket pocket.

He promised his dad he'd help him find a volunteer. He doesn't want to let him down.

He's running past a brick wall that surrounds the garden of an apartment, and barely has time to react at a dark shape that suddenly darts out from around the corner before-

"Ah!"

Ryoken lets out a yelp of surprise as he slams into someone, the force of which sends him flying back onto his rear. His deck goes flying out of his pocket and into the air, before scattering at his feet in front of him. He hisses at the slight force of pain on his tailbone, before looking up to see what he's just run into.

"O-Ouch," the boy in front of him whines.

He looks to be a few years younger and is a bit smaller than him. There's a randoseru bag on his back, implying he's just got out of school. He gives Ryoken an apologetic look, before he notices the cards at both their feet; their decks have mixed up in the collision. They both get on their knees to start gathering them up, and the boy smiles as he seems to take notice of Ryoken's cards.

"S-Sorry," he says sheepishly, before looking up at Ryoken with interest, "Do you play Duel Monsters too?"

Ryoken nods with a smile, holding the kid's deck up. "Yeah. You too?"

"Yeah, I love it too!" the boy exclaims excitedly, handing Ryoken his deck as the latter gives his back to him.

A lightbulb goes off in Ryoken's head.

"Want to come to my house and look at my deck?" he suddenly asks, hoping it will work.

The boy's light green eyes light up, and he nods eagerly, making his diamond-shaped bangs bounce slightly; his hair is an interesting tri-color, Ryoken notes, most of it in the back and top being dark blue while his front bangs are an eye-catching neon blue and bright pink. The color reminds Ryoken of the delphinium flowers that his mom used to plant in the garden in spring.

They get to their feet and Ryoken starts to lead them to the direction of his house. Duel Monsters is their main topic of discussion as they walk, and they talk about their favorite archetypes, if the newest booster packs are worth the money or not, which cards were the best aces for winning a duel and which ones are just a loophole for cheating. He also learns the kid is six- two years younger than him- and has just started first grade in April.

As they get to the walkway that outlooks the water, the boy stops and points to himself.

"My name's Yusaku by the way!" he says to Ryoken happily, "What's yours?"

Ryoken smiles, "It's-"

There's a sudden wind that rolls in from the south. It blasts right through Ryoken's clothes and sends goosebumps down his arms and legs. He lifts up a hand to make it stop messing up his hair, but loosens his grip on his deck in the process, and a few of his cards end up getting picked up by the wind and blasted away. Ryoken cries out in alarm and jumps to grab them, only for them to fly out of his reach.

"Oh, no, your cards!" Yusaku says in surprise, "I'll go get them!"

He turns and darts for the small area of trees where some of them have been blown to. Ryoken nods and turns to chase the ones that are hurdling dangerously close to the edge of the walkway. The wind teases him as it rolls the cards through the air and away from him. Ryoken squeals in terror as a few land in puddles, and he flaps them rapidly to shake off the water before it can do too much damage. He leaps for one card that's threatening to slide out from under the safety fence.

Just as it flies up and starts its descent towards the edge, Ryoken's arm shoots out between the bars and grabs it in mid air. He holds his breath, his heart racing at the thought of if he had just been a few seconds too late. The metal of the safety fence is painfully freezing against his cheek.

Quickly pulling back, Ryoken closes his eyes and collapses on his rear in relief. He holds his deck to his chest as he lets out a sigh, smiling as he looks down at it fondly.

"Man, that was a close one, Yusaku," he says with a bit of a chuckle.

There's no response.

Ryoken turns his head, his eyes scanning the bushes.

"Yusaku?"

The edge of the forest is still and silent. He tilts his head for a sign of a rustle in the bushes, or a head of blue and pink hair, but finds nothing. Standing up, Ryoken starts for the same spot he saw Yusaku run to.

 _Where did he go?_ He thinks as he starts walking into the grass.

"Yusaku?" he tries again, "Where are you? Did you find my cards?"

Concern starts to wash over him as he fails to get a greeting in return.

"Yusaku! Can you hear me?!" his calls start to become frantic, and Ryoken's thoughts become clouded with the worry that something wrong may have happened to his new friend. He trips over roots as the forest gets denser and has to wrestle his jacket sleeves from they get caught on branches and thorns. Dread starts to pool in his stomach as he goes deeper.

"I-I-If this is a joke, it's not funny!" Ryoken says as he slowly turns around, still receiving no response.

What if he got hurt? Or he's lost? He tries looking for footprints, but the grass is thick and covered with leaves. Ryoken looks back, scared that he might go to far and end up losing his own sense of direction, but he can't just turn back when Yusaku still seems to be here. If something bad happened, Ryoken would never forgive himself for leaving.

He hears the faint sound of machinery, and heads for where it's coming from. Maybe Yusaku's headed for a building for shelter, maybe there's a place to call for help if it comes down to that.

Ryoken stumbles into a clearing. The trees here are barren and gnarled, the skyline of the city visible through their tops. There's a building in the center of the cleaning

It's not very big, probably only a bit larger than a row of storage units, and there's an old generator next to it with several giant extension cords running from it into the building. There's an SUV parked on the other side, its license plate and antennae removed. A little ways off behind it, there's a series of what look to be sheds, all of which have metal doors with keypad locks on them.

There's a strange buzzing noise coming from within the building. Ryoken's curiosity gets the better of him, and he starts for the door. Maybe Yusaku got distracted like he is, and he wanted to take a look inside to explore?

He reaches for the handle and starts to call out, "Yusa-?"

"Ryoken!"

His hand jerks away from the door as he jumps at the harsh call behind him. Ryoken whips around. His back slams against the door as he backs up into it. His heart is beating rapidly in his chest in shock.

Father stands in front of him, a rather terrifying expression on his face as he glares down at Ryoken. His eyes are narrowed and suspicious, though his face is slightly pale, as if he's also gotten the scare of his life. He marches over and yanks Ryoken away from the door, turning him and bending down to get in his face. His grip on Ryoken's arm is tight.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Kiyoshi questions.

Ryoken shrinks under his father's harsh gaze and looks back at the building. "I-I-I was j-just looking for my f-friend-"

"Friend?" Father repeats, "What friend?"

His hold grows tighter around his arm, and Ryoken winces at the painful pressure on his muscles.

"T-T-The boy I was going to bring to your office!" Ryoken explains, "Y-You said you wanted me to bring someone over so you could get some questions from them for your research thing? R-Remember?"

Father blinks, and immediately loosens his grip. He adjusts his coat, seemingly realizing how he's coming across. Ryoken rubs his arm.

"O-Oh yes, that boy," Kiyoshi says, "Yes I remember now. Yes, well, aw, you don't need to worry about that anymore. I actually just ran into him."

"You…you did?" Ryoken asks, "Is he okay?"

"Of course he is," Father says, not looking at him. He says it a little too quickly, "I got all the information I was looking for and sent him on his way. He, ah, also gave me your deck."

He pulls the remaining cards out of his pocket and hands them to Ryoken. "You must be more careful with your deck. Those cards aren't cheap in bulk; if you lose them I'm not going to buy you more."

Ryoken takes them warily. He glances over them, before slowly looking back up at his father. There's something…off about this. His dad is looking around hurriedly, like he's scared they're being watched. And maybe he's lost track of the time, but something about his dad having already met Yusaku, Yusaku already given his cards back, and Yusaku leaving without so much as a goodbye and completely disregarding Ryoken's invite just doesn't add up to him. Like it's too…coincidental. It makes too much sense.

"Where did he go?" he asks, "He just disappeared out of nowhere and wouldn't answer me when I tried calling for him."

"Oh, I'm sure he's walking home," Kiyoshi immediately answers, "I told him once I got everything that he could go."

It makes Ryoken pout. "But…we were going to play Duel Monsters once we got home. I wanted to show him my deck."

Kiyoshi gives him a smile that seems sincere enough, and puts a hand on top of his head in sympathy. "Oh, I'm sure you'll see him again. It's just that plans have changed. Now that you're here, let's get home."

"Is this where your doing your experiment?" Ryoken asks, resisting the pull of his father's hand on his shoulder to gesture to the building.

He misses the way Kiyoshi clenches his jaw, the latter answering him like it hurts him to do so. "Yes, actually. We'll be starting our observations soon, we just need to put some finishing details on the layout."

"Can I go see?" Ryoken asks.

"No," Kiyoshi says harshly, "That's private property and it's full of fragile equipment. I don't want to risk something breaking or getting knocked over."

Ryoken recoils at the bite in his dad's tone; he also feels a slight irritation at the scolding words. He wasn't careless or clumsy. He knows that he's supposed to keep his hands to himself and not touch anything and to wipe his shoes and to not move too fast in case he trips on cords or bang his side on corners that caused things to topple or any of that. He'd been told that a thousand times, he didn't need to be belittled like a toddler. He just wanted to see what was inside, why was his dad acting like he'd been snooping?

"Now come one, we can't afford to dilly dally," Kiyoshi says hurriedly as he grabs Ryoken's shoulder and drags him to the car, "I'm risking my neck just coming out here today."

"But-" Ryoken tries to object- what if Yusaku is still lost and needs help getting home? Ryoken did take him pretty far from his neighborhood- but is silenced as his dad makes him get in the car.

As his dad drives, Ryoken sneaks glances at him. He keeps looking in the rearview and side mirrors, his grip on the steering wheel is so tight it turns his knuckles white, and he's steadily pushing on the gas more and more that at one point Ryoken is scared they might crash or flip if he turns too sharp.

The thought about Yusaku and where he went bothers him for the rest of the day. He's still saddened that Yusaku would just up and disappear even though he seemed excited to play with Ryoken. His dad said he got the information he needed from him, so he guesses that it makes sense that he'd no longer need to bring Yusaku to the house, but he's still upset.

He thought he had finally made a friend for once.

* * *

Their research seems to finally take off the next month, if the way they all come over almost every night and hunker up in his dad's office talking about who knows what is anywhere to go by. Aso and Kyoko still come by now and then to visit and play with him, only now Ryoken notices they seemed to be much more anxious than they used to be. Aso acts like he's constantly on edge and Kyoko seems almost frightened of him; or, at least she's feeling _something_ , because it's like now every time she looks at Ryoken she always has a sad, remorseful look in her eyes and acts like she's about to cry. They try to act like nothing's wrong in front of him, but he notices.

"What kind of research are you guys doing, anyway?" he finally decides to ask one morning, as they all sit in the living area and play a board game.

He doesn't miss the way Kyoko's hand flinches as she pauses in reaching for her pawn. Her and Aso share a look, before she turns back to him. She smiles sweetly at him, though something about it makes it seem a little fake, like she's just trying to put on an act.

"Why do you want to know?" she asks.

Ryoken shrugs, "It's just, Dad won't tell me anything. It seems like it's really important, but he won't even tell me why he needed certain answers from the kids volunteering or what he's going to do with them. He's always told me about the things he does."

"W-Well, Ryoken, you see, it's…" Aso struggles to find an answer. He looks to Kyoko for help, and she quickly cuts in.

"It's a little bit complicated," she says, "The thing we're looking for- well, the process of it all is rather hard to put into words that the average person can understand."

"Well, just say it the best you can and I'll try to understand," Ryoken insists.

"It just…well, there's a lot of things that have to go into it, and a lot to explain exactly what we're doing," Kyoko says with a nervous giggle, "There's so much to talk about I don't even think there's enough time in the day to go over it."

That answer just frustrates him. Ryoken frowns. He can see right through what she's trying to do.

They don't trust him. They think he might see something he thinks is cool and is going to tell everyone about it. There's a bit of sting, but it's masked under his anger. He's not a tattletale, he knows that there are certain things you need to keep under wraps until it's safe to bring it to light. They should know him better than that. Plus, he doesn't appreciate suddenly being treated like he's just a silly baby. He's a kid, but he's not stupid.

He opens his mouth to voice as much, but is cut off by the sounds of the news on TV.

"… _akeru goodbye and sent him on his way to school,"_ the anchorwoman on the screen narrates, " _However, according to the administration, he never showed up."_

Ryoken is momentarily distracted. An image box occurs next to the anchorwoman, showcasing a photo of a boy with silver and red hair and purple eyes wearing a school uniform. The TV lists that he's six and lives in the next district over. There's a number on the bottom of the screen that says it's for people to call if they have any clues or know where the boy could've gone to.

The anchorwoman continues on screen, " _Police say they don't know if this disappearance is related to the disappearance of one child from St. Hestia's Orphanage, who was reported missing by staff members just last week, but that they are not ruling out the possibility-"_

The screen suddenly flips to black. Ryoken blinks.

"Why'd you do that for?" he asks, looking at Aso.

To his surprise, Aso is staring at the television like a ghost has just come out of it; his eyes are widened to the point his pupils are mere pinpricks, his face is drained of color- making his normally tanned skin a sickly sallow hue- and the hand that holds his remote is shaking. He's pointing it at the TV almost threateningly, like he wants to throw it at it.

Whatever's scared him, though, he tries to play it off as he turns to Ryoken. His smile is strained and exaggerates the premature crow's feet around his eyes.

"Oh, I don't think there's any need to start off our morning with such depressing topics, is there?" he says, "It's a nice day. Let's not ruin it with things that are just going to get us down."

"But…" Ryoken starts.

It seems rather out of character for Aso to say such a thing. Normally he's always attentive to the news and can go on for hours on rants about the latest updates about politicians and trade agreements and whatnot. So for him to simply brush off a report about kids disappearing…

"Ryoken," Kyoko speaks up, drawing his attention back to the original subject at hand, "I know it's probably irritating to be left in the dark about what we're doing, but please understand it's not out of malice or any distrust towards you.

"It's just that this project is so big that, well, the less people know the better," she says, "Overall, we thought it'd be best that the details should be restricted to only those actively involved in it, for confidentiality's sake."

She grabs him by the elbows to turn him in towards her. "Just know," she continues, "That what we're doing is for the greater good. Your father is doing many risky and challenging things, but he wants to help everyone. He believes the breakthrough we're looking for is the key to bettering lives all around the world."

She looks him in the eye. "You trust your father, don't you?"

Ryoken nods. Of course he does- his father is a scientist, his whole life is dedicated to finding things that can help people learn and grow and be better than they were a few or ten or a hundred years ago. It's not a job that many people can do, so if his father's doing it, then that means she smart and cares a lot.

"Good," Kyoko says, "Then I'm going to ask you to trust _us_ on why you haven't been given a straightforward answer. I know it's not ideal and you hate being kept in the dark, but please try to put your faith in our decisions."

It's not the answer he's looking for, and he's not really satisfied, but Ryoken guesses he can get where she's coming from. Kinda.

"Okay, Kyoko-san, I…I trust you," he says.

* * *

A few months go by, but despite Kyoko and Aso's attempts to convince him to let it go, Ryoken's interest in their project remains strong as ever and gets the best of him, and he finally decides that if they're not going to tell him anything, then he'll just find it out for himself.

Because even if they won't tell him anything, Ryoken still remembers the path to how to get to that building in the clearing.

And if what they're doing is for the "greater good" then whatever tests they're doing can't be that bad, can they?

So one morning, after Father bids Ryoken a quick goodbye and rushes out the door, Ryoken hurries to the window in the entrance way to watch him, his eyes trailing the truck as it backs out of their driveway and heads down the road leading to the public street; he's able to see it for about two hundred or moreso feet until it does a sharp turn to the left and disappears from view. Ryoken remains in that spot for another half hour, eyeing the spot to make sure the truck doesn't reappear or that there's any other cars coming this way.

After a full hour has gone by, he runs to the front door and quickly puts on his shoes. He crawls through the kitchen and makes his way out the back door and threw the backyard. He takes the private path leading to the beach halfway before getting off at where it opens to the road near the water and keeps to the bushes near the sidewalk until he gets to the same spot where the wind had blown his cards.

The SUV is in the same spot it was the first time he found this place, except this time it's also accompanied by two other black cars. Like the former, they also have no license plates or an antenna, and their windows are blacked out.

Ryoken walks up to the door and presses his ear against it, listening in for the hint of any voices on the other side. When he hears silence, he carefully pulls it open and steps in, making sure to not let the door slam behind him.

The room on the inside is rather small, not much bigger than a foyer. The white walls are chipping, and the carpet set on the ground is so threadbare that Ryoken can see the concrete underneath. It's mostly empty, save for a foldable table that has two laptops charging on its top. There's a big long hallway at the end that turns to the right, where it darkens considerably. Ryoken slowly treks towards it. The silence is a stark contrast to the rapid beating of his heart inside his chest. He keeps himself pressed up against the wall, and shimmies through the hallway little by little. The fear that at any moment he's going to be caught makes his palms sweat.

Around the corner is a descending staircase whose light above it is burnt out, leaving it in shadow. The door at the bottom is closed, but he can see a few specks of light peaking out from under the crack. Ryoken keeps one hand on the railing as he goes down slowly, taking extra precaution to plant his feet as softly as his body will allow him to.

He presses his ear to the door once he reaches the bottom. This door is made of metal, so he can't really hear any sound that may be occurring through it. Ryoken presses harder against it, not wanting to risk going in only for someone to be right there on the other side.

It suddenly flies open, and he has to keep himself from stumbling onto the floor. He pops his head up, afraid he's blown his cover, but luckily, there's nobody in sight. He can hear voices coming from a few feet away. Blowing out a sigh of relief, Ryoken quickly pushes the door closed and tip toes through the room.

Giant monitors take up most of the space, their hundreds of blinking light providing the only source of illumination in the otherwise dark room. Wires and cords litter the floor and run up the walls, some of them hanging off the monitors like vines from a tree in the jungle. Ryoken has to look down at the floor to make sure he doesn't step on any of them. He presses one hand to a wall of one to keep his balance; it whirs constantly and sends vibrations through his body.

There's an open doorway on the far right end of the room that sits in the middle. The voices seep in through, louder and more pronounced. Ryoken keeps close to the monitors as he approaches it, making sure to keep out of sight.

His dad is in the room on the other side, his back to it. Aso and Kyoko stand behind him on either side, and Dr. G is a few more feet back on his left. Their silhouettes are darkened by the giant screen in front of them; their heads block whatever's displayed on them from Ryoken's view.

Ryoken slowly starts to approach. He can hear sounds coming from the screen, what sounded to be a little kid's voice shouting "I draw!" and summoning conditions and announcing spell or trap cards.

Were they watching a duel?

Curious, Ryoken creeps out from behind the wall, his love for the game and eagerness to see how it fits in with their research temporarily overshadowing his need to stay unnoticed.

From the screen, an AI's voice comes on overhead.

"YOU LOSE."

There's a humming sound, like the buzzing of electricity.

It's followed up by a scream.

Ryoken jumps.

The scream continues- bloodcurdling, heartbreaking, high pitched- before it's suddenly cut off by the sounds of someone slamming into a wall.

"YOU LOSE."

Another scream rings out for a full ten seconds, so high it seems it could break glass, before dying off.

"YOU LOSE."

"YOU LOSE."

He flinches as more screams rang out, each accompanying the AI's voice and the weird buzzing sounds. Each one just as painful and loud and ear splitting.

And the voices.

The voices are all children.

Ryoken feels his blood run cold.

The adults seem unaffected by this. Instead, he simply hears his father let out a 'tsk' sound and shake his head. Kyoko bowed her head slightly, and he heard the faint sound of a pen scratching on a clipboard.

"How many losses is that for number four this week?" his father asks.

"This would make it the fifth since Tuesday," she answers, "And the second one today."

"Withhold provisions until seven-thirty," Father demands, "Then reduce them to only a quarter."

More scratching on their clipboards.

"That'll make it three days without proper nutritional intake," Dr. G notes, "If he doesn't get properly fed, he might become unresponsive to the stimuli."

"If that happens, increase the voltage to five hundred. He'll just have to keep on trying until he wins."

"Are you sure?" Aso asks warily, "If this continues, the physical stress might injure him to the point he can't continue."

"Often, it's at our most low that we find the push we need for a breakthrough," his father says, zero emotion in his voice, "It may prove to be beneficial with the development for the consciousness data."

"Number two has just won her third duel today," Kyoko notes, "That's a big improvement from the last two days."

"Send her provisions in ten minutes and increase them back to fifty percent."

The chorus of kids dueling continues in the background as they talk. They seem entirely unbothered as more shrill screams play out on the speakers as the AI continuously announces one loss or another.

It sends shivers down Ryoken's spine. He feels sick.

"YOU LOSE."

"Number six has just lost. That's the first in two weeks," Dr. G observes.

"What a shame, he had such a good winning streak," his father answers, "Withhold provisions for an a hour."

" _Mama?"_ a small, timid voice suddenly breaks through the speakers.

They all look back up at the screens.

" _Mama, where are you?"_ a little boy's voice sniffles, " _Mama, I'm afraid! Mama, Mama!"_

The fear in his voice clamps around Ryoken's heart.

He feels sick.

"YOU LOSE."

There's a bright flash of something blue from one of the screens, and he flinches at another scream; it's ended by a large sob, and the terror in the little boy's cries crash against Ryoken like a wave.

He doesn't want to be here anymore.

Their screams continue. He takes a fearful step back, like whoever's doing it are about to appear in this room and leap at him.

"YOU LOSE!"

"AH!"

Ryoken turns on his heel and races out of the room. He barely avoids slamming face first as he hurriedly navigates through the cords on the floor and pounds up the stairs. He lets the door of the building slam behind him as he takes off; he pumps his arms and legs as he races through the forest, not looking back once. He doesn't stop running as he gets back onto the sidewalk and forces himself to not slow down as he stumbles back up the pathway.

He shoves his front door open and scampers through his house and up the stairs, darting to his room. He gets through the doorway and finally turns around to slam his bedroom door shut before making a mad dash for his bed. He flies under the covers and pulls them over his head, shielding the rest of his room from his view.

Ryoken curls up in a ball under them. He's out of breath, his lungs burning and his throat painfully dry; his arms and legs burn from the exertion. It's hot under the covers and his clothes feel uncomfortable and suffocating and almost like they're roasting him alive, but Ryoken refuses to move. He lays on his side and hugs his knees to his chest. For several minutes he just lays there, the events of what he's heard replaying over and over like a broken record, the comforter sheltering him as if it can protect him from the outside world.

What…What was all that?

What were they doing to those kids?

Why were they screaming? Why weren't any of the scientists doing anything about it?

What did his dad mean by 'at their lowest'? What…what were they looking for? Was…was that part of their research, seeing the reaction of the kids when it came to…whatever they were doing to them? Ryoken bites his lip when he thinks of the screams, the little boy calling for his mother sending chills down his spine.

What…what had they done?

What was his dad searching for that they were resorting to doing who knows what to whoever they were watching? The thought stays with him the rest of the day, distracting him from other activities, try as he might to put his mind else..

Father gets home very late into the evening, and turns to him right as Ryoken heads for bed.

"Aw, Ryo, you're still awake?" he says in observation, "I thought you'd be long turned in by now."

Ryoken freezes, his back to him. He's scared to turn around- part of him's afraid that if he does, his father's going to somehow see what he's been up to today. But he forces his shoulders to turn, and he slowly looks up at his father. Kiyoshi looks none the wiser, simply giving him a look over as he stands outside his office, a briefcase and a manila folder in his hands.

"I-I was…j-just getting ready to," Ryoken stammers out, "…F-For bed."

"Oh," Kiyoshi says, and gives him a curt nod, "Well, goodnight son."

"Good-goodnight Dad," he replies.

A plethora of questions builds up on the tip of his tongue, eager to be answered and given an explanation, but Ryoken swallows them back down. He can't let his dad know he's been to the research facility.

Kiyoshi enters his office and closes the door behind him. Ryoken's gaze lingers on the door, before he quickly trudges to his room and shuts the door.

The memories of the kids screaming plays again as he lies in the dark, staring up at the ceiling.

Ryoken swallows hard.

He tries to reassure himself that maybe it's not as bad as he thinks. Maybe he just hasn't seen the whole thing and he's just letting his imagination run wild. Yeah, that's got to be it. He hasn't seen the full picture, so right now it seems like it's worse than it probably is.

Yeah, that's got to be it. His father's just doing research- valuable research that's going to help the whole world- and he let himself get overwhelmed by it, that's all. Whatever's going on, it can't be that bad. They said his research is going to help the whole world, so Ryoken's probably just getting things twisted; there's no way that a test that's going to change lives for the better would actually do something that's hurting people, kids no less, can it?

Ryoken tries to convince himself of as much, but the screams of the kids follow him into his dreams.

* * *

It's a whole other month before he finally gains enough courage to go back to the facility.

There's a big part of him that tries to say that ignorance is bliss, that he's better off just pretending that that day never happened and he should just ignore everything he heard and saw and go about his life. But there's a morbid curiosity in him that won't let him forget it, an eagerness that wants to see exactly what his dad was seeing. So, despite his better judgment, Ryoken awaits until his father has left, and heads back to the strange lab.

Unlike last time, the cars are missing from their space besides the building. As he goes downstairs and stumbles through the cords on the floor in the basement, Ryoken finds that the room containing the screens is empty. It seems that the crew has decided to take the day off.

The screens are still on when he approaches the doorway. Ryoken feels a lump in his throat; it feels like there are concrete weights in his shoes, and he has to force every step to the front of the room.

He takes a deep breath, and shakily lets it out as he makes his way to the screens. _It's only for reassurance_ , he tells himself. Once he sees that it's not that bad and he's just letting the initial shock over hearing the noises get the best of him, it'll be fine.

He stands in front of them.

What he sees he'll never be able to forget.

Each screen- six in all- display a child in a room by themselves; the walls of these rooms are a mint green color, and Ryoken can't see any doors or windows from the angle of the cameras in them. They look like they're only about the size of a master bathroom, but the small statures of the children in them make them look gigantic.

The kids inside all look around his age range, give or take; the eldest look to be about ten. The youngest don't look like they can be more than five or six years old. They're all wearing some sort of VR equipment. The vizors and attached earmuffs cover their faces like giant masks, and their duel disks look too big for their tiny wrists to carry.

All of them are currently involved in some sort of virtual duel, though Ryoken can't tell if it's against each other or they're in some kind of simulation. They hold out their little hands in a dramatic gesture as they call out attack names and summon unseen monsters to the field. Silence follows for a few seconds as whoever they're dueling makes their move.

Suddenly, one of them gets their life points attacked. Another one loses his duel.

A flurry of blue electricity shoots out from somewhere in the room, wrapping around both kids and shocking them.

Ryoken's eyes go wide. For a moment, he stops breathing. His blood turns to ice.

Both kids screech bloody murder, their screams coming deep within their chests. The electricity dances around their bodies and wraps around them like torturous blankets. The force of it is so great it lifts the both of them of them into the air and throws them back, leaving them to slam against the ground and wall like the rag doll of a toddler throwing a tantrum.

Ryoken's stomach churns at the sickening pounding sounds.

His eyes slowly crawl across each screen, watching in horror at what plays out on them. He doesn't want to keep looking, but find he's unable to tear his gaze away. He watches as each kid is electrocuted more and more as they lose life points, as each time all of them struggle to stay on their feet as it becomes more difficult to get back up when they're thrown around.

A little girl in pigtails and a dress whose shaking knees threaten to buckle under her.

" _Daddy,"_ she sobs, " _Daddy! Where's my daddy? I want my daddy!"_

A little boy with messy purple hair who lies on the ground, breathing heavy and unable to pull himself off the ground after the latest shock.

" _P-P-Please,"_ he begs in a small voice, " _P-Please, no more. Please, I'm so h-hungry…"_

A broad shouldered boy who seethes in frustration as he's attacked and angrily rushes to play cards for a counterattack, only to get shocked more from a possible card effect that blocks his attempt.

A boy with silver hair who backs up from something unseen in fright; Ryoken recognizes him as the missing boy from the news.

" _No…n-no, get away….no!"_ he says in disbelief, and puts his hands over his head in defense as he lets out a scream of terror. It turns into one of pain as he's shocked, presumably penalized for taking too long to make a move.

The only one who doesn't look like he's on the verge of collapsing is one boy who looks to be a bit older than him. He's got silvery blonde hair and his fringe hangs over his VR goggles, and to Ryoken's surprise, he smiles throughout his duel. Even when he's hit with a blast of electricity, the boy gets right back up with zero problem, and actually _giggles_ in reaction.

Somehow, Ryoken finds that more disturbing than the others.

His gaze goes down to the lower middle screen.

The boy standing in the middle of the room makes a movement resembling the drawing of a card from his duel disk. He reads out its name and card effect and sets it, before moving to draw another card. He announces the setting of two facedown cards before ending his turn. His bangs have gotten trapped underneath his goggles, which he pulls free to keep from itching his forehead.

His hair is rather odd, with its dual blue and pink tones.

Ryoken recognizes that hair, and those clothes, and the boy they belong to.

Ryoken's mouth drops open. For a second, he can't breathe.

 _Yusaku._

Something dreadful grows inside Ryoken and twists around in his insides. It squeezes them, clenching them into a painful ball and reorganizing them before climbing up into his heart.

 _You want to come to my house and look at my deck?_

Ryoken's eyes widen further. A feeling akin to a rock dropping into his stomach forms as a horrifying realization comes to mind.

 _No…Father wouldn't…_

He doesn't have much time to ponder the fact before he's distracted by a cry of pain from Yusaku. He looks back upon the screen to see the latter get hit by a second shock of electricity that sends him rolling backward. Yusaku falls onto his front, letting out a groan of pain from the blast.

" _You lose_ ," the AI's voice in his chamber says.

Ryoken watches him try to get up. Yusaku's arms are shaking violently, thin and unstable to support the weight of his upper body. He grits his teeth and balls his fists as he tries to push himself onto his elbows.

 _Come on, come on, get up,_ Ryoken silently pleads.

Yusaku lifts himself up an inch, before his unsteady arms can't take it anymore and he collapses back onto his stomach. He just lies there on the concrete floor, exhausted from his activities, his tiny body unable to take any more stress. Ryoken balls his fists.

"Come on, you have to get up. You have to," he says quietly.

Yusaku lays face down on the ground, breathing heavily in defeat.

Ryoken bites his lip, afraid to see what will most likely happen if Yusaku doesn't get back up.

That's when his eyes suddenly catch sight of a small yellow button at the bottom of the screen. There's one at the bottom of the each of the televisions. Beside them is a small red light, which below that is a small engraving that says TALK ON.

Ryoken bites his lip. An idea pops into his head.

He grapples with if he should or shouldn't for several seconds before he finally makes up his mind.

He presses a hand to the button. The light glows red.

"Get up," he says.

Yusaku's head raises slightly. His mouth drops open in surprise. He manages to finally push himself up a few centimeters.

"Who is it?" he asks.

Ryoken struggles to think of what to say next. What should he say? Should he tell the truth? Lie to him? Turn around now and act like he never said anything? He's so overwhelmed from this display and what he's learned that it's making him hard to think straight. He grits his teeth, the screams of the other children ringing in his ears. He feels tears comes to his eyes. He doesn't know what to do. He feels so helpless.

Yusaku grabs his visor and pulls it over his head, allowing Ryoken to finally see his eyes. The younger boy stares up at the wall in front of him in wonder. It's almost like he's staring right at him, though Ryoken thinks that the cameras they have set up in his little space are most likely hidden.

His expression is full of wonder.

Suddenly, Ryoken feels a memory come to mind. Something his mother told him long ago before she left.

 _Sometimes, when you're down and feel like you're at your wit's end,_ she had said, _Think of just a few small things. They could be anything- your friends, a food you like, a TV show you want to see to its end- but sometimes, when we're at our most weakest, just two or three or four things is all we need to help keep us moving._

He looks back down Yusaku's screen.

"Three things to live," he continues, "Three things to go home. Three things to defeat the enemy. By thinking, you can still live."

He watches Yusaku's eyes widen. The boy blinks for a second, seemingly trying to understand Ryoken's words.

Then, he furrows his brows. His expression goes stern. He nods in the direction of the camera, and finally stands back up and puts his goggles back on.

Ryoken smiles at his newfound determination, and watches Yusaku takes his first turn.

It doesn't last, though, as a few minutes later Yusaku's hit with another bolt of lightning.

Ryoken cringes.

The little girl shrieks as the shock force slams her against both walls before she drops to the floor like a dead bird.

" _Stop it!"_ she sobs, " _Please, stop."_

The broad kid pants desperately as he lands hard on his arm, a pained yelp escaping his throat.

" _I'll do better, I promise, I'll win, j-just please don't hurt me! I'll win! I promise!"_ he begs, tears falling from his eyes.

Ryoken backs away.

The screams seem louder this time. More painful, more broken. He watches helplessly as Yusaku and them are shocked and thrown, beaten down again and again with no rest, no time for relaxing, no mercy. They shriek and cry and beg and moan. Tears come to Ryoken's eyes.

He can't take anymore. He has to get out of here.

Suddenly, there are voices coming from the far side of the other room.

"…may have to run some tests in case the electricity's caused any nerve damage," he hears Dr. G say from the other side of the door, "If they can't duel properly, then that'll mess up the data."

Ryoken turns sharply, his breath caught in his throat. _Crap._

They can't see him here. They can't know that he's been there and he's seen what they're doing. He rushes out the room and hides behind a monitor in the corner, all the while praying to whoever's above that one of them doesn't have a reason for coming to his spot and finding him.

Luckily, Father and his associates pay no mind to the direction Ryoken is hiding as they enter the room. All of them wear labcoats and carry their clipboards with them as they cross the threshold into the other room. He watches them with bated breath, irrational thoughts of them somehow finding evidence that he's here making him sweat with anxiousness.

"It says here number one's won twice already," he hears Father say, "Allow him provisions in the next twenty minutes. Half rations, in case this is the best we'll see."

"Yes, sir," Aso responds.

"Number three's lost four so far, though. Withhold rations until tomorrow. And reduce number five's to fifty percent. His record's been decreasing the last few days."

How can they just sit and talk like nothing's happening? How can they talk about the kids in the rooms- the _cages_ , are more like it- like they're not even human? Like they don't even see what they're doing? How can they even allow this…this, this inhumanity?!

There's no way Father's actually allowing this. There's got to be something he's not seeing, something he's hiding. Ryoken's been told by him and Aso and other people how there are certain rules they have to follow when doing experiments. "Ethics" that they call them, certain topics or variables that by law and in good conscience they can't test on because it would be wrong. One of those, Ryoken knows, is people; they can't test drugs or diseases or weapons on them, unless the former involves volunteers in something called "clinical trials".

But do kids count as volunteers?

It certainly doesn't sound like Yusaku and the others want to be here.

Screams echo throughout the room. Ryoken represses a sob, his vision going blurry with tears.

There's got to be a reason for this, isn't there? His father and his friends wouldn't just stand there and watch as kids Ryoken's age got electrocuted and slammed up against walls and floors and not be allowed food or sleep. His father's a good man, he wants to help people. That's what he said this whole thing was for, was for the "greater good".

So…so there's got to be a reason for this! They said it's going to help the world, s-so maybe it seems really bad, but there's a good purpose behind it, a-a-and it's going to be worth it! That's what Kyoko said, that his father wants to help everyone! So whatever they're doing, even though it seems wrong, it's research. Sometimes, to find answers, you had to do some things people didn't like. B-B-But it's going to be all worth it in the end, isn't it?!

None of it is sounds even remotely persuasive, and Ryoken comes to a chilling awareness that he probably doesn't know his father at all.

There's a pounding sound, before he hears one boy let out the shrillest scream he's ever heard, one that sends goosebumps down his skin. Ryoken puts his hands over his ears to try and block them out. Tears pour from his eyes as this fails. He's forced to endure them as he sits on his knees behind the monitor, unable to escape without them noticing. He whimpers, staring at the floor.

"Make it stop, make it stop…" he quietly begs.

* * *

Aso and Kyoko come over for dinner, where they sit around and chat with his father as if nothing has happened. They talk about the latest developments with SOL, their concerns with the geologists' report of a possible earthquake, and how bad the traffic has been lately. Ryoken watches them, his food untouched in front of him.

How can they be so calm? How can they relax and joke around as if they haven't spent all day watching and allowing kids to wear themselves ragged, to get electrocuted, to be abused? How can they be so… _unbothered_ by the things they've done? Like it has zero effect on them. Ryoken doesn't know whether to feel disgusted or terrified.

If they can hide things like this, who knows what else they're capable of? What they've done in the past?

"Is something wrong, Ryoken?" Kyoko asks, "You've barely touched your plate."

Ryoken slowly shakes his head.

"Not hungry," is all he says.

Kyoko's brow furrows in concern, and she reaches over. Ryoken has to tell himself not to flinch as she touches his forehead.

"Well, you don't feel warm, so that's good," she states, "Though, you do look a little pale."

"I'm really tired," he says hurriedly, "Actually, I think I'm gonna go to bed early."

He climbs out of his chair and hurries out the dining room before they can ask him any questions. He rushes upstairs and slumps behind his door once he closes it. He takes a shaky breath, before he opens his eyes and contemplates what to do now.

His dad said his project was for the good of everybody.

They told him it was important research and that it was to better lives all over the world.

Ryoken wants to trust him. He wants to believe he knows what he's doing but…

After seeing those six kids in those empty rooms, with their blank walls and isolation from the rest of the outside world, being forced to duel what seems to be day in and day out, and being attacked when they fail, it seems more like torture than research.

There's no way something of valued could be found in hurting kids.

But what can he do? He's just one boy.

He also doesn't want to see him get hurt. Despite the distance in their relationship, Ryoken loves his father. If he goes forward with telling someone- if they even believe him- he knows his dad will be in serious trouble. He doesn't want to be separated from him.

And yet, all he can think about is the way Yusaku and the rest of those kids screaming and begging for the pain to stop, all of them tired and out barely able to stand.

What if that had been him in that cell?

Ryoken swallows hard. He still doesn't have an answer by the end of the night.

He's unable to get any sleep, as nightmares of the kids in their cages and their screams keep him awake in a cold sweat, afraid that he'll be next.

* * *

It's three more weeks before the guilt becomes too much for him to handle, and he returns to the facility a second time.

It's almost after sunset by the time he arrives. His father and the crew are just packing up their things to leave, so he hides behind a tree until their cars are out of the woods; Ryoken lied to him and told him this morning he was invited to spend the night at a friend's house. Kiyoshi agreed without any second thought, completely oblivious to the fact that Ryoken's never brought up any word of a friend or even acquaintance once in his life.

The screams are just loud as they were last time as he walks to the control room. Ryoken looks up to briefly glance at each kid.

They're all in even worse shape than the last time he was here. They're all thinner, their fingers like twigs and their bruised knees knobby, their clothes- scorched and stained with sweat- are the same ones they were wearing last time, and they hang off their bodies like they've shrunk two sizes. Some of them have dried blood under their noses and their cheeks are discolored with scrapes and bruises. Their hair is greasy and matted, their lips are chapped, and they shake so badly on their feet it seems like they're about to pass out.

He turns his attention to the screen that showcases Yusaku's area just as the former gets thrown back into the far wall and cries out in pain as he lands on his side. The collision is so strong it knocks his VR goggles off. He lets out a groan and just lays there, his tiny body pushed to its limit.

His eyes are dead and hollow, like he's not quite there in his head at the moment. The dark circles underneath them makes him look deathly, and if not for the shallow rise and fall of his back, Ryoken wouldn't be able to tell if he's even still alive.

He's not going to last much longer. None of them are. How long does Father plan to keep them like this? This isn't good for them- the isolation, the strain, the lack of proper care. He doubts they've had even a hint of fresh air since they've been put in these cages (whenever that was) and who knows what kind of "food" they're being given, if any at all. Lab rats who run through mazes all day get treated better than this.

If this keeps up, someone's going to die.

Ryoken's stomach does a flip at the thought.

What's worse is that he questions if Father will even stop if it comes to that point.

They've told him that whatever they're looking for is the key to survival of humanity, but all it looks like is relentless torment.

Someone has got to do something.

This has got to stop.

Ryoken swallows the lump in his throat. He presses the speaker button at the bottom of Yusaku's screen.

"You…hey, you," he calls out, "Be strong."

Yusaku makes a noise of recognition, before he squeezes his eyes shut and curls up into a ball.

"That voice again…" he says. He sounds so tired and afraid that it breaks Ryoken's heart.

"Three," Ryoken reminds him, "Don't forget to think of three things: Three things to live, three things to go home, three things to defeat the enemy. By thinking, you can still live."

Yusaku rolls over onto his stomach and holds himself aloft with his elbows. He looks around the room, searching for something.

"Who are you?" he asks, "Where are you?"

Ryoken smiles, even though he knows he can't see it. "I'm beside you."

"You're locked way too?"

"You can go home," he tells Yusaku, "You can go home soon."

Yusaku looks up at the camera area desperately. He exclaims, "I can go home leave?"

"So don't lose hope," Ryoken adds, "Think of three things."

Yusaku keeps looking up. His eyes are shining, like he's about to cry. However, he holds the tears in, and his brow knits as he seems to regain his confidence.

Ryoken nods like he's confirming something to him. He stands there for a short time, just watching them all duel. His eye twitches whenever one of them gets shocked.

He grapples with his thoughts on the way over, doubts about if he should really do what he's about do clouding his mind, a new kind of guilt piercing his heart. Can he really do this? Does he really understand the depth of his actions?

If he does this, he may never see his dad again. But if he doesn't, Yusaku and the rest of them might be in those rooms forever.

Taking a deep breath, Ryoken holds his head up, having come to his decision.

He turns and leaves the room, going back up the stairs and exiting the building. He heads for the nearest bus stop that he knows has a pay phone.

 _Father, forgive me._

He puts some yen into the phone and dials a number.

" _Emergency services, how can we help you?"_

"Y-Y-Yes, I-I have some information I think you should know," Ryoken says, "T-T-There's some kids, t-they're in trouble…"

* * *

The police show up to their doorstep three days later.

Ryoken sits on the floor in his room, mindlessly shuffling his deck. He's been nervously waiting for the moment, though it's taken a bit longer than he thought it would for them to come. Each hour has felt agonizingly slow. Downstairs, he hears his father shuffle around the kitchen, presumably making himself a cup of coffee. He's none the wiser to what his son has just done.

With his window open, Ryoken can hear the faint sound of a siren in the distance- a long, drawn out wail that slowly rises and lowers in pitch before rising again. It becomes louder, drawing closer to the house, before it is soon joined by other sirens in a high-pitched chorus of artificially conveyed cries.

Something flickers in the corner of his eye. Ryoken looks up to see flashes of red light passing over his windowsill.

He swallows roughly. They're finally here.

Dozens of car doors open and slam from somewhere outside. He hears someone pounding heavily at the front door before they command, " _Police, open up!"_

Ryoken jerks as something heavier strikes at the door and causes it to slam against the wall; hundreds of muffled footsteps stomp into the ground level. The vibrations shake the walls.

" _What is the meaning of this?!"_ he hears Father exclaim.

" _Kiyoshi Kogami, you are under arrest for suspicion of kidnapping, imprisonment, and grievous bodily harm upon a child,"_ a woman's voice sternly explains.

" _Didn't think we'd find your little science experiment, did you, ya sick fuck?"_ a male voice proclaims, " _Let's see you how you like being the one locked in a cage this time!"_

The sound of his dad struggling are covered up by the pounding of feet on the stairs. Doors bang as they file into rooms to search. They're right outside his door, and the team officers stop as their eyes land on him. Ryoken stares at them numbly.

The next few moments are a blur. There's a woman in a suit who leans down next to him, whispering words that he doesn't quite here as she gathers up a few things of his and leads him out of the house and into an unmarked white car. There are officers in every room of the house, turning everything inside and out. The cleaning bots go wild, unsure of what to do with all these strangers.

Ryoken looks over through the back window. Police cars are strewn all over the lawn. It's going to ruin the grass and their flower beds. Lights from the cruisers paint everything in a blanket of red. As they drive away, he catches a quick glimpse of an officer shoving his dad into the back of a squad car.

A pit forms inside of him, and Ryoken tries to ignore the pool of betrayal that fills it up.

The police station is cold. He sits on a chair outside an office, where nobody is telling him anything. He hears the lady in the suit make various calls and watches officers lug in petty criminals and drunks to keep them overnight. Social workers try to talk to him and reassure him everything will be alright, but Ryoken's hardly listening. He knows they're all lies anyway.

Finally, after a slow agonizing hour, he hears heels clicking on the floor and looks up to see Aso and Kyoko arrive. They fret over him and it's clear from the panic in their eyes that they've heard what's happened and figured out that the police are probably onto them, but they try to tell him differently as they play it stupid and drive him to Aso's house.

" _I don't understand,"_ he hears Aso say later on that night, when Ryoken's laying bed in the guest room and they think he's already asleep, " _We took all the necessary precautions, all papers were taken with us whenever we left. How could they have found out?"_

" _Do you think someone came across it walking in the woods?"_ Kyoko suggests.

" _Unlikely. The walls of the cells were soundproof and the locks were reinforced so they could only be opened with a code. All our reports and data were kept under passcodes on my computer, which I routinely replaced, so there's no way someone at SOL could've found out. The only way they could've found out was if somebody told,"_ Aso responds.

" _Do you think….?"_ Kyoko trails off.

There's a moment of silence. Ryoken stiffens. The door is closed, and his back is to it, but he can feel the full force of them staring into him.

" _I don't think so. He was never anywhere near the sight,"_ Aso counters, " _And Kiyoshi kept his office locked at all times. There's no way he could've figured it out. I don't know who did it, but it wasn't him."_

" _You're right,"_ Kyoko sighs wearily, " _So what do we do now?"_

" _We keep the rest of what we have hidden and hope that he doesn't rat us out. We can't risk them getting on our trail anymore than they already are."_

As they continue talking, Ryoken feels tears prick his eyes.

They still believe in him. They still trust him to keep his word. They don't know the horrible thing he's done, how he just ruined both his and his father's life forever.

"I'm sorry," he quietly sobs in the dark, "I'm so sorry, Father. I'm so, so sorry…"

* * *

They don't tell him anything about what's going to happen. Not that they necessarily have to. Ryoken has enough knowledge from crime shows to know that he's probably going to be going away for a long time, if not the rest of his life.

He doesn't care, though. He'll wait as long as he'll have to for his father to come home. So he can finally apologize for doing this, to explain that it was never meant to hurt him.

The adults talk about things without him. Aso and Kyoko work out with a social worker of where he's going to live and what's going to happen to the house until his dad and released and all of that; Ryoken can't really find it in him to care that much, even though he does have objections. This is his life, he should be able to make decisions for himself.

What he cares about more is the suspicious lack of reporting of his father's exposure on the news.

He thought it was sure to make the headlines; heck, maybe even national news. It was a scandal for the year, and it made him rather curious to see how his father's company was going to handle it all. Finding out that your top leading scientist had kidnapped children and tested on them for months? He'd be surprised if the public outcry didn't outright bankrupt them. Their reputation was bound to be tarnished, even if they were unaware of his activities. His father was their employee, so by proxy, they were liable for what he had done.

But surprisingly, when Ryoken turns on the TV in Aso's living room and turns it to the news, expecting to see his father's name and picture plastered all over the screen, he finds that aside from the weather and a broadcast on the elections, there's nothing. Not even a mention on the little banner at the bottom.

Ryoken's confused. He would've thought that there would be something. Six kids go missing for who knows how long and are suddenly found in the conditions they were in? That didn't seem like something just brushed under the rug.

Later that day, when he's alone- he doesn't want either of them to know he's looking- with his tablet, he searches up 'missing kids' in the Den City database.

There's no mention of the boy that he saw previously. Nor is there anything that matches the description of the others he saw.

He looks up 'missing kids, testing, sol tech' in the search engine.

Nothing.

Ryoken finds that weird. It's like they didn't even exist. That makes no sense. He looks up the electronic newspaper and magazines, even the tabloids, but it seems that nobody's aware of the incident. Like it was all in his head and he made it all up.

He knows he didn't though. If it was just his imagination, his father wouldn't be in jail right now.

But if nobody's talking about it, what happened to the kids? Are they okay? Are they back with their parents yet?

Or did he do what he did for absolutely nothing?

And if nobody's talking about it, what does that mean for his dad?

The thought makes him panic and overwhelmed and he finds himself tired just from thinking about it. He puts down his tablet and grabs a blanket to wrap up in as he lays down on the couch.

It is rather nice, though, as much as he hates to admit it, the lack of reporting on his dad's arrest.

At least this way, he doesn't have the evidence of his treachery consistently thrown back in his face.

It makes handling the guilt a little easier as he waits for his father to come home.

* * *

His father isn't released in a month.

He's not released in a year.

Before Ryoken knows it, three years pass.

Three full, lonely, agonizing years.

He has no way of knowing what's happened to him. He's never been told what his sentence is or where he's been held at, so he has no way of knowing how to contact him. Ryoken has to try not to think about it, or else he'll get caught up in the worse case situations he can think of. All he can do is hope is that, wherever he is and whatever he's doing, that he's okay.

Then one day, during his homeschool lesson, he gets a phonecall.

" _Your father here at our hospital,"_ a woman says, " _I'm afraid he's fallen into a coma and we have him on life support."_

Ryoken is out the door before he can even comprehend slamming the phone down.

It's pouring down rain by the time he gets to the hospital. He rushes to the front desk, soaking wet, and tells him his name. A nurse guides him to the room his father's being kept in, telling him about how they got a call that Father mysteriously collapsed a few days ago and that the doctors are still trying to figure out what's happened to him.

"It's strange, you have to understand," she explains to him even though he's not really listening, "There's no blunt force trauma but he also has no preexisting signs of illness. It's like his body just stopped working on him."

She opens the door to the room.

Ryoken's breath catches in his throat.

His father is barely visible among the mountains of machines they got him hooked up to. There's a respirator in his throat and dozens of fluids hooked up to his IV. His skin is a sickly grey color and wrinkled, as if he's aged twenty years.

"I'll…I'll leave you alone for now," the nurse says, "Please call immediately if you something happens."

Ryoken doesn't wait for the door to close before he runs towards him, hands hovering over his body, not knowing what to do or what to say. He touches his hand. It's cold as ice. He looks dead.

"F-Father…" Ryoken's voice comes out in a squeak.

Is this the result of his actions?

The price they have to pay?

The nurse said his dad wasn't sick or injured, so what happened?

Who did this to him?

What's happened to him all this time he was gone? He grabs his father's hand and grips it with all his might. He holds it up to his face, his tears wetting his skin.

"I'm so sorry," Ryoken whimpers, "I never…I just wanted the screams to stop. I just wanted them to be all right…"

He sinks to his knees and lets the sobs in his chest overtake him as he cries in the dark room. He doesn't let go of his father's hand once.

* * *

With Aso and Kyoko's help, he manages to get his father released into his care (or, specifically, Aso and Kyoko's care, since he doesn't have power of attorney at his age). They at first try to tell him there's not much anyone could do- how they may need to consider even pulling the plug- but he won't hear it. Even though he's unresponsive, at least his dad will be home.

After that, his main priorities become care of Father and keeping him stable. Besides homeschooling from a tutor bot, his days consist of making sure the machines don't malfunction, setting up a backup generator in case of a power outage, and consistently checking his vitals for any drop in status. He asks the Aso and Kyoko if they can look into his condition, figure out whatever's the cause of Father not waking up. They tell them they'll try, but they can't make any promises. As the days go by, Ryoken doesn't think of much besides trying whatever he can for his dad to get better.

That is, until he suddenly stumbles across an obituary for his dad in the newspaper.

Which states, apparently, his dad died due to "natural causes". There's no mention of his work, or what he did. There's not even a mention about Ryoken. It makes him seem like just another random face, something any other person would quickly gloss over.

The date they marked is the day that his dad was arrested.

The article cites that the information was contributed by the "generosity" of SOL Technologies.

* * *

 _Seven years later…_

"I have three reasons why I must defeat you!" Playmaker exclaims, "One: I'll defeat you and uncover the truth about what happened ten years ago!"

Ryoken goes rigid.

"Two: I'll regain the time that I lost! Three: I'll save my friend who saved me!" Playmaker continues.

He glares at Ryoken with determination, emerald green eyes burning with the passion of his goals. Ryoken is speechless, his mind reeling over the words he's just heard his enemy say. There's something dreadfully familiar about the way Playmaker talks, the 'incident' he refers to.

"Ten years ago…three things…" he repeats back to himself.

Memories itch in his mind.

Him running into a little boy….the little boy asking if he liked Duel Monsters….that same little boy curled up on the floor of a cold, empty room, his body battered and beaten…

Could it be…?

"You're the one from that incident ten years ago?" he questions Playmaker.

Playmaker nods, his glare hardening. "That's right. I'm the emissary of revenge!"

That's not what Ryoken's talking about, so it makes him realize Playmaker doesn't seem to know the full story. He thinks it was the Knights alone that caused his imprisonment. He seems to think it was just out of fun, that Father just locked them all up because he wanted to. He thinks of Ryoken and the rest of them as monsters. He hates them and wants revenge for what was done to him.

And yet, he also stands in front of Ryoken working alongside the Dark Ignis, dueling with the Cyberse cards made by the Ignis, dueling Ryoken as a means to gain the restoration program that will cure Blue Angel of the computer virus. Blue Angel, whose connected to Akira Zaizen.

Akira Zaizen, who also seeks the Ignis, due to his position at SOL.

SOL Technologies, the ones responsible for the Hanoi Project's cover up. The ones who imprisoned Father and infected him with the virus and left him merely a shell in the real world. The ones who seek out the Ignis as a means of profit, but don't seem to know or care about what exactly the creatures are capable of.

Ryoken grits his teeth, a fire of anger lighting up inside of him.

Emissary of revenge. What a joke. What the hell does he know? He claims he seeks justice for what was done to him, but in the same breath is willing to help the man who works for the company that sought that there was no true justice. Who made sure everything was kept quiet and that he, Spectre, and the rest of the children were kept hidden away like dirty little secrets. He's willing to work beside the abomination that threatens all of humanity- what is it he called the Ignis? 'Ai?' How revolting, to give it a name as if it's a pet- but he wants to blame Hanoi for what's been done, when they're trying to stop the end before it can begin.

He doesn't see the full truth.

He doesn't know just what he's gotten into. But he wants to stop them.

No, Ryoken won't allow it.

He won't let all that Father and them have worked for to go to waste because of this duelist's naivety.

"You're a fool, Playmaker," Ryoken tells him just as much, "To help SOL Technologies without knowing the truth!"

Playmaker, however, proves to be a formidable opponent, and Ryoken lets out a yelp of pain as he's thrown back into the rock behind him with Firewall Dragon's attack. His life points slip to zero, and he struggles to stand back up, snarling at Playmaker's arrogant stance.

"I'll eat it up!" the Dark Ignis exclaims as he bursts out of Playmaker's duel disk, taking an ungodly form and lunging for Ryoken.

Ryoken manages to jump back before he can be swallowed whole and throws up an arm to protect himself, only to let loose a seethe of pain as the Ignis devours it. His data flies through the air like confetti.

The Ignis turns, a giant maw full of ragged teeth-like structures now on its face as it turns to look at him with a hungry look in its eye.

"I'll eat up everything!" it teases at him.

Ryoken snarls at him. He holds him arm, helpless like a cornered mouse to a cat.

He's suddenly saved by a bolt of lightning that strikes the Ignis.

"Father!" Ryoken exclaims. A ray of green light shines down upon him, lifting him back up towards their bases.

He looks down at Playmaker. The latter stares back.

"I keep my promises," he says, summoning the cure to Blue Angel's computer virus and throwing it towards him, "Take it! It's the removal program.

"Playmaker!" he beckons the dual haired duelist's attention back to him, "The wind didn't blow for me today. But as long as you have that AI, this duel was only the start. We _will_ meet again."

With that, he finds himself back in the Knights' hideout. His father is nowhere in sight. He growls, bracing himself for the scolding he is sure to get.

"Let your guard down?" Father questions as he appears next to him, "It's not like you.

"Or were you shaken when he talked about ten years ago?" he inquires as he approaches Ryoken.

Ryoken stiffens at the mention.

He's never told his father about what he did. The shame of knowing what his telling has done, what it's allowed to progress- SOL infecting his father, them capitalizing on his father's work, the Ignis' allowance to grow and run loose in the network- makes the words freeze up in his throat.

What would Father do if he knew the truth?

If he knew exactly what Ryoken knew?

Ryoken forces the thoughts from his mind. Nevermind that.

He doesn't have time to ponder the 'what-ifs'. All he can do is now is face what's in fact going on.

And what's going on is if they don't stop the Ignis, then the whole world is in danger.

"I'm sorry, Father," he responds as his arm regenerates, "But next time, I promise."

Kiyoshi closes his eyes, "It's fine, don't worry about it. I was able to get useful data from the duel. But if we can't acquire that Ignis, I must proceed with the final plan."

Ryoken pauses. _Already?_ he thinks.

The final plan.

It was intended to be a last resort, the most desperate of measures if they were too late to stop the Ignis and their plans.

But it would mean that thousands, if not millions of lives are going to be at stake. People- men, women, children, the young and the old- are going to get hurt, if not outright killed from this plan. It's sure to put them at the top of the most wanted list.

Ryoken didn't think they'd have to use it already. Not this early. It seems a little irrational to him; he knows the Ignis are still out there, but what if there's been a mistake? What if they're in a place that they haven't thought of, outside the network, and it may turn out to be for naught? What if there's more they're not seeing?

But yet…Ryoken trusts his father.

He should know the Ignis better than anyone. He designed them, he's kept track of them, he's studied them and has seen firsthand what they're capable of. Father's done countless simulations on possible AI and human interaction, and he's said the answer's always the same.

If they don't stop the Ignis, they will eventually destroy mankind.

SOL Technologies knows as much, and is willing to let that happen. As long as it means more money for them.

And rather than stop it, they infected Father to keep him quiet, to prevent him from interfering.

The thought infuriates Ryoken. His resolve quickly solidifies.

It's a heavy risk to take. But if this means that they can take down the Ignis before they have the chance to strike first, then he will do it.

For Father.

"Understood," he finally answers.

Kiyoshi gives a brisk nod, before he disappears back to his research area.

Now left alone, Ryoken's thoughts go back to earlier.

"Three things…That speech pattern…" he contemplates.

" _Do you play Duel Monsters too?" Yusaku asks._

" _Yeah. You too?"_

" _Yeah! I love it!" he responds, his eyes lit up in happiness._

Ryoken's gaze softens.

"Playmaker…are you…?"

He clenches his fist.

It doesn't matter. Not anymore.

If Playmaker hadn't gotten himself involved in the first place, they would've long been rid of the Ignis and Cyberse World. But now, in his blindness for vengeance, he's foolishly allowed the Dark Ignis to escape and has screwed up everything Ryoken has worked for.

No.

No matter what happened ten years ago, that's long since past.

He won't let his father's hopes go to waste out of some faint childhood memory.

Ryoken will make him proud.

He'll do whatever it takes. He won't stop until all six of the Ignis are crushed beneath his heel and SOL Technologies is in ruins for destroying his family.

And if Playmaker insists on interfering, then Ryoken will crush him too.


End file.
